Organise the Ultimate Charity Ball in a Marquee

Choosing a Charity:

There are many different reasons why we might choose a certain charity to support, so it’s important to choose one that you trust completely and believe in.

Choosing a charity you feel strongly about will help make your ball a success and make it easier for people to attend. You can hold a raffle at your event to raise more money for your cause or ask guests to make a suggested donation or purchase tickets to attend the event.

Choosing a charity also means inviting special guests—you might want to invite public figures such as local celebrities or politicians, especially if your cause has particular relevance in the public eye. Maybe you decided you wanted to raise money for a certain charity as a challenge, or you decided to do it because you love to help other people. Or perhaps you have a personal attachment that makes you think their cause is worthwhile.

Whatever reason you choose a charity, make sure it has lots of supporters and a good reputation that you can show guests on the night. It’s also a good idea to choose a cause that you feel passionate about; this will help you to gain confidence when planning the event and can help you to fundraise more successfully.

Approaching the Charity of Your Choice

Once you have chosen a cause to support, you can contact the charity directly, explain your reasons for choosing them, and ask if they will attend your ball to help raise money.

It’s a good idea to contact the charity well ahead of time and give them plenty of notice so that they can prepare and your guests can contact them if they wish to do so. Many benefits come with contacting the charity of your choice, so it’s a good idea to try to get as many of them as possible and include them in your fundraising activities. Some benefits include:

• They can help your charity ball stand out.
• Increased awareness can significantly increase donations.
• It also increases awareness of your chosen cause.
• It can help your charity gain support from the public and local businesses.

Setting up the Event Committee

Once you have chosen a charity to support, it’s time to set up an event committee or committee team to help you plan and prepare for the charity ball event.

The group should include people from all different walks of life and of varying ages and professions, and it’s a great idea to get local businesses and organisations involved too. Having people from different walks of life on the committee will help your event feel as inclusive as possible and help the planning team gain support and ideas from a wide range of people.

The committee team will need to meet with the committee regularly and discuss the plans for your charity ball and plan its festivities and fundraising activities accordingly. The committee should meet at least once a week (but this may need to be increased if there are a lot of key decisions to be made) and should discuss things like your charity of choice and there are many reasons why you might want to choose a charity to raise money for.

It could be that you have had a loved one who passed away and was looked after by a charity or because an animal was cared for by a charity you wanted to support. Another reason might be that you just believe in the cause and want to help it continue.

Whatever your reason is for choosing a charity, make sure it’s one that you want to help and believe in and that it’s supported by a good number of people; this will help you to gain support from the public and local businesses and will make you feel confident that you have chosen a worthwhile cause to support.

Finding a Venue

Now that you’ve decided on the activities and entertainment, it’s time to plan where the event will take place.

Where you’ll be holding the charity ball is an important aspect to consider, and you’ll need to choose the location with care, particularly if you and your committee need to travel to the event. You will also need to consider if the location can cater for a marquee and how many people it can hold, though you can always change your venue choice.

Another thing to take into account is the need for toilets. If the event is likely to go on for many hours, you will want to keep your guests at the event, and providing portable toilets is a great way to do this while keeping your guests happy and entertained. Finding the right venue is an important part of organising your ball. You should choose a venue that is large enough for your party to fit in comfortably while looking beautiful at the same time.

The right venue will bring your event to life and allow you to make it one to remember.

Hiring a Marquee

You should consider hiring a marquee for the event, but use a local supplier to reduce costs.

Marquees can be beneficial as they can include rooms in the marquee to compartmentalise the space and doors that can be blocked out if you don’t want your party guests to spill outside at any particular point. You can also decorate the marquee any way you like, and you could create a theme or colour scheme for your event.

Hiring a marquee for your charity ball is an affordable option to keep your guests comfortable in a safe environment. It can also protect your guests from the elements and ensure that your event doesn’t have to come to a standstill due to bad weather.

Send Invitations

Make sure to send out your invitations several weeks in advance, so your guests have time to arrange their diaries and plan for the evening ahead.

If you have entertainment, then make sure to send invitations with any information they might need about the entertainment too, such as: when and where the entertainment is taking place; whether children are allowed to attend the entertainment or not; how long the entertainment will last; any other entertainment that will take place during the evening and any other important information your guests might need. Your invitation should include all of the information your guests need about the event and venue details (including the address where the event is taking place) and usually include an RSVP reply date for your committee to receive and reply to the tracks.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to make a mini-map on the back layout of where everything will be, making it easy for your guests to navigate their way around. You could have a schedule printed out and make the invitation more like an event flyer with additional information like a menu, dress code, etc.

Ticket Sales

If your charity ball will raise money, then selling tickets is a great method.

Your committee may want to use a ticketing system for the event, which will mean they can easily sell tickets and keep track of how many have been sold and which guests are attending. Ticketing software is often simple and easy to use, and companies offering these services will often allow you to download and print tickets or save digital versions to secure wallets on smartphones.

There are lots of great ticketing options available online, so consider your charity’s budget and choose a ticketing system that will be most beneficial to your cause. Ticketing software can also help keep your guest list organised and can be a vital link in getting your charity ball off the ground.

Once all tickets are sold, you will also have the option to print off guest lists, which can be useful for last-minute preparations. This also comes in handy for managing the number of guests that will attend. If your committee has over-estimated the number of guests that will attend, you will need to cut the number down—or if there are fewer people than expected, you can add them up too.

Event Planning and Organisation Tips

Organising a successful event involves a lot of work and organisation, and it is often up to the committee to do all the work towards making the event a success.

Organising this event will require a lot of planning and preparation. Here are a few tips your committee can keep in mind when planning their charity ball.

Book the Date (or Dates) and Venue Early:

It’s always best to book your event as early as possible to avoid disappointment should other events occur on the chosen dates.

Set a Budget:

Setting a budget is one of the first steps when planning your event. Your budget should consider all the expenses you will need to cover for your event, such as decorations, ticket sales, entertainment, food, and so on.

Make Your Event Schedule:

An important part of your event programme will be your ticket information. Your committee will need to include the event’s ticket information (including costs) and any other information about your event, like where your tickets can be purchased.

Organise a Working Committee:

Organising a committee will assist you in organising your charity ball and getting things done much more easily. Perhaps you can assign jobs to different people or even ask your committee members to assist in fulfilling their roles.

Sending Out Your Invitations:

Invitations are a must for any event, and your committee will need to decide how they wish them to look—are they printouts, and e-tickets or will you be sending invitations in the post? Be sure to send invitations out as soon as possible to give your guests enough time to make arrangements to come and attend.

Create a Charity Ball Theme:

Consider creating a theme for your party and get creative; perhaps you could create a Black-Tie or Movies theme-or maybe a costume party-the choice is yours.

Event Marketing and Promotion

Perhaps the most important thing your charity ball will need help with is the marketing and promotion of their fundraising event.

It can determine whether your event will be a success or not. Whether you decide to create an advertising campaign online, hire external promoters, or spend your time doing your marketing, you will need to find time to promote your event.

You will need to consider your target audience and find the best way to reach them. Your marketing will start with the creation of a flyer, and then you can begin the task of promoting your event using this flyer; perhaps you could design some posters for passing pedestrians on the street or place adverts in local newspapers and magazines.

Promotion on the internet should also be a consideration; you could create a web page for your charity and advertise your event there, or you could advertise the event on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn—both are excellent means of advertising your event for free.

Decorate the Marquee

Your charity ball is something you want to be remembered for, so make sure you decorate the marquee with items such as balloons or fairy lights. Go down to the local party supply store and pick up some confetti, and make sure to decorate with banners and posters advertising your charity ball too.

You will need to ask the questions: do you need tables and chairs for your guests? If you are serving food and drink, then these are a necessity. Be sure to inquire about decorations and what they offer with the marquee company. As it is for a charitable event, perhaps they will offer discount rates for the hiring of tables, chairs, and decorations.

Serve Food and Drinks at Your Event

The most significant part of your event will be the food, so make sure that you have good quality food and drinks available, but remember that guests may be attending with their children (or grandchildren), so remember to cater to them too, and plan to offer child-friendly food.

If it is going to be a hot summer’s day, you may want to think about hiring a bar to serve drinks to the guests (just be sure to check that this is allowed beforehand and make sure to get the appropriate licences first).

Listen to Music and Dance

It’s important to consider how the music will play an important part in your event, whether you want to hire a Dj or play music through speakers, and perhaps you have even considered hiring a live band.

If so, have you determined whether or not you want to hire a dance floor? This would be good for keeping the children entertained. Perhaps if you have a stage with some acts for the children, a dance floor may be required for the acts to do certain things that get the children involved, such as party games and dancing competitions.

Raising Money for Charity

Well, the party’s over, and now it’s time to get down to business and plan how you’re going to raise some much-needed money for your charity.

Your committee may have already created some fundraising ideas, but if you haven’t, here are a few ways to raise money for your charity ball: Decide on a fundraising target and deadline. Perhaps you should set a goal for your charity ball: how much you would like to raise in a certain amount of time.

Below are some ideas for fundraising activities and entertainment:

Fundraising Activities

If the charity ball you are planning is a huge event, then your committee could plan a few rounds of fundraising activities throughout the event.

For example, you could have a round of raffle tickets on sale at the beginning of the event, then have a silent auction halfway through the evening, and then maybe finish with a few rounds of raffle tickets on sale again towards the end of the evening. Raffles are always fun for your guests and a great way to raise extra money for your charity.

However, a silent auction can be just as fun and allow you to raise more money for your charity ball as guests bid appropriately. You should also plan to set up a silent auction with a prize or two that people can bid on.

Donated items can be auctioned off with match-funding if necessary and at the end of the event. Make sure you have many activities for guests to participate in to raise money for your cause.

These can include games such as bingo, prizes, and challenges like the best-dressed person. Consider hiring a professional auctioneer for the evening who can increase the amount raised for your cause.

Entertainment:

Your guests will be coming to your party for fun, so you must consider what type of entertainment you want.

A fair will work a lot differently than a silent disco, so carefully consider what type of entertainment will appeal to your guests and how best to organise it. You need to ask yourself, are there going to be things in your event that require power to run?

If so, will you need to hire a generator to power them? Knowing these things beforehand will help you plan your event better.

Have Fun!

The most important part of the day is ensuring everyone has fun, so make sure your committee decides what they will do to make the charity ball fun.

Making a fun event is a great way to entice people to buy the tickets in the first place; if you want them to be entertained and have fun, they will. This will also give you a good chance of raising more money for your charity of choice as your guests will be keener to purchase tickets for the event, and if you plan any future events, then your guests will be more likely to help you promote them and attend them too.

If your committee doesn’t plan the party well, it will be harder to attract more guests, and if people don’t attend, there will be less money raised for the charity. So be smart about your charity ball, plan it well, and go for it!

Best of luck with your charity ball, and don’t forget to let us know how you get on! But, more importantly, remember to have fun!

Conclusion

So, there you have it, everything you need to know to organise your very own charity ball.

It’s a lot of work, but it will be worth it when you see the joy on everyone’s faces as they enjoy a night of fun and fundraising. We hope this guide has helped inspire you and given you some great ideas for your event.

If you need more advice or help along the way, don’t hesitate to contact us – we would be happy to assist.